Today’s Leading Men of Westerns

Much to the chagrin of today’s lovers of the old west, Western movies just aren’t as prolific as they once were. Gone are the days of guys like John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart who could craft a whole career solely on westerns if they wanted to. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great western actors in our own time who have done enough to leave a mark on the western movie terrain.

This article is a fun look at some of the fellas over the last thirty or so years who have taken a turn or two at playing a gun-toting, horse-riding, man-of-the-frontier. There is no order to it; this isn’t a click bait countdown, it’s just a fun accounting of what I wish there was more of.

KURT RUSSELL   Why not start with Kurt Russell? He hasn’t played in the most westerns, but after making a tremendous stamp on western movies as Wyatt Earp in 1993’s Tombstone, he returned to the genre in recent years, starring in Bone Tomahawk and the Hateful Eight. Couple that with a couple movies he did as a young man called the Longest Drive 1 and 2, and he’s certainly done enough to be considered a western movie favorite for today.

KEVIN COSTNER   And since we’re already focused on Wyatt Earp, let’s take a look at Kevin Costner. He took his turn at the lawman of renown just a year after Russell, and this was already after proving himself in Dances with Wolves just four years previous. In addition, Costner had done some teeth-cutting in Silverado in 1985, so his career was already showing a bent towards the western genre. In more recent years Costner featured in the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s on History Channel, helping to get the project made, and showing his heart for the old timey topics. However, the best role of his career, and the one that proves his worth as a western hero more than any other was in Open Range. Arguably one of the better westerns ever made, Costner shows he could easily make a living playing nothing but a gunman from the west, whether he chose to or not.

JEFF BRIDGES    On the heels of Open Range there has been a very modest proliferation of relatively big-budget westerns. One of the more acclaimed was the Coen brothers’ True Grit of 2010. This movie really puts Jeff Bridges into the category of a modern western leading man. He did a great job as Rooster Cogburn, and did an equally wonderful job as Wild Bill Hickok in 1995. Those two roles put him on the  frontier map, but they’re anchored by the movies Bad Company (1972) and Hearts of the West (1975) when he was still a new actor on the scene, as well as with the modern-setting western Hell or High Water. Five movies with two very significant roles (Rooster & Wild Bill) definitely earn him recognition, but in a fun turn, we can cap him off with his portrayal in R.I.P.D., where he plays an old west marshal six-gunning against some unruly dead folks.

SAM ELLIOTT      Sam Elliott stands out as the most prolific western actor of recent years. He got his start in westerns and has remained a go-to whenever a believable western man is needed. Rather than recount his resume with whimsical verbiage, I’ll simply post his record and let the reader sift through the evidence: The Sacketts (1979), Wild Times (1980), Shadow Riders (1982), Yellow Rose (TV Show, 1983), Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986), Quick  and the Dead (1987), Conagher (1991), Gettysburg (1993), Tombstone (1993), The Desperate Trail (1994), Buffalo Girls (1995), The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky (1995), Rough Riders (1997), Big Lebowski (1998), Hi-Lo Country (Modern, 1998), You Know My Name (1999), The Ranch (TV Show, 2016). Yes, that’s right, I included the Big Lebowski. No, it’s not a western, but it’s significant that in that movie Elliott plays the conscious of the western pioneering spirit, juxtaposed against the lazy, jaded attitudes of today’s Los Angeles.

TOM SELLECK    Recollecting some of Elliott’s films such as Sacketts & Shadow Riders brings to mind another western stalwart who is deeply under appreciated. The man of the mighty mustache,…Tom Selleck. Only Elliott has done more westerns than Selleckand likewise, Tom Selleck has peppered his whole career with the genre, consistently showing up on film in boots and cowboy hat, from the Sacketts in 1979, to Monte Walsh in 2003. My only complaint being that he needs to take a break from Jesse Stone to do another western or two; it’s about time! And, as with Sam Elliott, I’ll just post the list for the reader: Sacketts (1979), Concrete Cowboys (1981, TV Show), Shadow Riders (1982), Quigley Down Under (1990), Ruby Jean & Joe (Modern 1996), Last Stand at Saber River (1997), Crossfire Trail (2001) Monte Walsh (2003), Twelve Mile Road (Modern, 2003).

TOMMY LEE JONES & ROBERT DUVALL    I think it’s probably about time to acknowledge the godfathers of modern western cinema, Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. The recognition for Lonesome Dove is probably enough for either of these two to be held in the esteem in which they are, but each have made a nice collection of westerns throughout their careers, and are every bit deserving of the regard they are given.

JONES    Starting with Tommy Lee Jones, who proved himself well, atop a horse and on the trail, in Lonesome Dove. He had done a western just a year before in Stranger On My Land, but really cements himself as a western lead with Good Ol’ Boys in 1995 and The Homesman in 2014. You can add to this great handful The Missing in 2003, and the modern western movies Three Burials and No Country For Old Men.

DUVALL    And now we can focus on Robert Duvall, who, given his role as Gus McRae, is probably this generations John Wayne when it comes to the hearts of todays western fan. Perhaps Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday is a rival in popularity, based on his sheer hipness, but Gus McRae stands out as the western-man’s man. And after adding to his western film resume, he returned to the trail-riding role that made him so endearing in 2006’s Broken Trail, which was an exceptional trail riding yarn in it’s own right. And, of equal worth, was his role as Boss Spearman in Open Range. It’s just hard to beat Robert Duvall when it comes to western portrayals. And finally, in order, here’s his list of western movies: Lonesome Dove (1989), Convicts (1991), Geronimo (1993), Gods & Generals (2003), Open Range (2003), Broken Trail (2006), A Night in Old Mexico (Modern, 2013) Wild Horses (Modern, 2015). Keep in mind that this is a relatively modern collection and doesn’t take into consideration movies and TV appearances he made in the ’60’s.

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There are a couple other steadfast actors who need a mention, and they are Gene Hackman and Ed Harris. Hackman for his standout role in Unforgiven, and Ed Harris for his equally impressive turn in Appaloosa.

GENE HACKMAN    Hackman has rounded out his western resume with early career films Zandy’s Bride (1974), and Bite the Bullett (1975), and then returned to the genre in the early 90’s with zest, pumping out four westerns in four years: Unforgiven (1992), Geronimo (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), and The Quick and the Dead (1995),

ED HARRIS    Ed Harris, conversely of most others mentioned in the article, came to westerns generally later on in his career. His first was Riders of the Purple Sage in 1996 and he didn’t do another for twelve years when he starred in Appaloosa. After doing a couple more, Sweetwater (2013) and Frontera (2014), he showed up in HBO’s West World in 2016. Appaloosa is certainly the highlight of the group, but it’s great to see him doing more in the genre recently.

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And what about the ever-reliable “worthy-of-mention” category? Let’s take a look.

Kiefer Sutherland started early with a prominent role as Josiah “Doc” Scurlock in Young Guns (1988) and Young Guns 2 (1990). He was next seen representing the modern rodeo cowboy in The Cowboy Way (1994) and Cowboy Up (Modern, 2001). Then, in 2015, he participated in a bit of a passion project with his real life father, Donald, playing his onscreen father in the movie Forsaken. His career may not be dominantly western, but it’s great to see him getting back to the western in recent years, and taking such an active part in getting it done.

Val Kilmer is certainly a fan favorite after becoming the face of new westerns for a whole generation in 1993. His Doc Holliday in Tombstone is easily the slickest gun-toter to be on film, and it, alone, makes him a worthy western actor. He also starred in Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid in 1989, and then made a small western comeback with Comanche Moon (2008) and  Wyatt Earp’s Revenge (2012). It’d be great to see him take on another role to rival his Doc Holliday, but that would, admittedly, be tough to top.

Perhaps the most under-the-radar young-ish western actor of today is Berry Pepper. He’s’ appeared in two Lonesome Dove outputs, Lonesome Dove: the Series (1995), and Lonesome Dove: the Outlaw Years (1996),  as well as Three Burials (Modern, 2005), True Grit (2010), and Lone Ranger (2013).  Not only does he boast a robust handful of western films, but he’s in good company, too. In Three Burials he co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones, in True Grit he shared the screen with Jeff Bridges, and though Lone Ranger was not the highest reviewed, it was a very big budget movie. On top of these, even though he was not a part of the original Lonesome Dove series, it’s a great studio property to be a part of.

Finally, Viggo Mortensen, Thomas Haden Church, and Ethan Hawke each deserve a look. Mortensen got his first western role in Young Guns 2, and then later did the movie Hidalgo in 2004. Though not a true western, he still played a cowboy in the 1890’s. His most defining western role was as Everett Hitch in Appaloosa, alongside Ed Harris. Thomas Hayden Church has only done two westerns to date, but they’re good ones to be in. First playing Billy Clanton in Tombstone, and then starring with Robert Duvall in Broken Trail. Some have criticized his stiffness in the latter of the two movies, but considering that most cowboys were hard working roughnecks, and not camp cut-ups, his performance comes off appropriately stoic. The  final entry is perhaps the last name one might expect, but given his new avenue towards westerns, including three western movies in two years, it’s nice to see this turn in direction. Ethan Hawke first starred in A Valley of Violence in 2016, a spaghetti-western styled film, then co-featured in the recent remake of The Magnificent 7, and is slated to star in a movie about a kid who witnesses the encounter between Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, conveniently titled The Kid.

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Deadwood (Boardgame)

Cotemporary games focused on the old west are few and far between, but when one can be had I certainly like to give it a look. Deadwood is a fairly simple set-up to go with a fun looking board. Released in 2011, the object is to have the most money by the end of the game, which comes about once the train reaches town. Each player has a ranch and cowboys, and has to choose how to use them in order to come out ahead in the end.

A lot of the fun of this game is the progression of growth as you try to get ahead. Both the town and the rail line are growing, and this effects how you play. You build the town by placing buildings which each have different attributes, and through out the game you’ll have to decide to either leave your cowboys in a building and gain it’s special advantage, or return them to the ranch where they can be utilized as a resource for your next turn.

This is a great game, and a lot of fun comes in the box, so I really recommend getting it for you and your family or friends, whoever you play with. But now let me warn you of some pretty common silliness: the point of the game is to build the town of Deadwood before the train arrives, all set in a classic western desert setting. Obviously Deadwood wasn’t in the desert, not anywhere near it, nor was the train on it’s way at the time the town was being built up. And probably most of all, Deadwood was a gold mining town, not a cattle town. All of this is purely academic when it comes to sitting down and enjoying some table-top fun, but for any novice student of the old west, these things will probably stand out.

That said, it’s a great game, and these aesthetic discrepancies shouldn’t stop anyone from indulging the good times contained herein. It’s currently only twelve dollars on Amazon for a new copy, so it’s even a great price!

 

 

Who Is Wild Bill Hickok?

Between Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill it’s tough to say who was the most prominent gun-carrying lawman of the old west. One distinction between the two men is that Wyatt didn’t become the legendary character among his peers that Wild bill had become during his own lifetime. He was certainly known and had a reputation (the degrees of which can be saved for another, more complete discussion another time), but he was never the praised folk hero that Hickok was.  And while Wyatt has become the more popular cultural figure of recent generations, there is no doubt that Wild Bill was the preeminent gunman of his time.

Having started his career primarily as a scout for the US Army, he earned a reputation for fearlessness and proficiency. Some stories are unverifiable, such as the incident where he allegedly took on a wild bear (though he did suffer an unknown attack that had him convalescing in a near death state), and others are well documented like his impressive shot across the courtyard that took down the antagonistic Davis Tutt.

Regardless of which stories are true and which are not, he was a striking and commanding figure; many people have noted as such in their various journals and recollections. Helpful to his branding was the friendship he had with Buffalo Bill. There’s something about the bonds of battle between two men that increases the interest and sympathies. To wit, Wyatt and Doc, Bat and Luke Short, Butch and Sundance; there’s just something about two legends who are bound together, even if the legend may be stretched a bit from the reality.

Avoiding a full biography on the man, it can summarily be said that he was foremost among his peers, and the embodiment of the quintessential frontier lawman. Even Wyatt Earp, according to Stuart Lake, claimed to have learned early valuable lessons from Wild Bill while a young man in Kansas City.

Wild Bill Hickok – Gunfighter

If we want to be honest with ourselves, the reason we, the gunfighter-enthused, love westerns so much is often, if not now than at our point of beginning, all because of one hero or another gunning down some bad guys. In simple terms, it’s the excitement of the gun duel that really brings us to the show. And Joseph Rosa, in his final book on Wild Bill, really presents a fun volume in analyzing the most dangerous and celebrated moments in his life.

Rosa gives step-by-step, excruciating detail of each and every gunfight that we have recorded for the gunman known as Wild Bill. He gives floor plans and movement-by-movement accounts of where a particular person was standing and where they moved to. He shows you just where Wild Bill was positioned, and where his adversaries stood.

In addition, he gives you the background to each encounter and surrounds each account with context for the diagraming. Plus, beyond just the accounts of the fights, Rosa educates the reader with a complete background on what kinds of guns Hickok used, how he carried them, and how he used them. This volume is a very intentional effort at giving the reader a clear view of what it meant to say that Wild Bill Hickok was a gunfighter.

This one is also just over two-hundred pages, but utilizes a slightly larger font than the other books. It’s a pretty quick easy read, given the font combined with the pictures and diagrams, but certainly worth owning. Though it’s a quick read, there’s plenty to study over, and the time-value in this book is really in the time you’ll spend understanding the fights scenarios and feeling a little bit more what Hickok himself might have felt.

Though it’s the last of the four books Rosa wrote on Wild Bill, it’s probably my favorite follow up, simply based on the fun of breaking down the gunfights. Definitely get this one and enjoy going over the real-life exploits of a man who inspired so many wild west legends.

Wild Bill Hickok – The Man & His Myth

Author and researcher Joseph G. Rosa continues his descent into the understanding of historic lawman and all-around dangerous gun-hand Will Bill Hickok with his third book on the subject, titled The Man & His Myth. After following up his seminal work on Wild Bill (They Called Him Wild Bill) with the photographic collection that takes you into his world, he now takes on another angle by breaking down and examining all the stories about Wild Bill Hickok, and especially those that seem a bit too tall of tale to be believed.

But along the way he does more than just research and share his notes, he also takes a look at the practice of myth building and how it happens, and why it happens. The main purpose, or maybe effect, of this volume is to pull back the curtain a bit more after what had been written in his first. In that biography Rosa was careful to give a fair view of the different stories and claims that existed when studying Hickok, but in this effort he is able to spend more time, given that it is the singular focus of this book, to make sense of some of the seeming craziness that was a part of Wild Bill’s life and legend.

As always, Rosa delivers, and if you are a Hickok reader, fan, or student, then this one should also be in your collection. However, I will say, that of the four books on Hickok that Rosa put out, I would rank West Of and Gunfighter as slightly higher priority than this one.

Wild Bill Hickok – The West of Wild Bill

The West of Wild Bill Hickok is a fantastic resource for study of Wild Bill. Joseph Rosa has put together an intensely in-depth collection of pictures and references to give context to the world that Hickok roamed through. The majority of the book is old images, with enough narrative to set up each chapter. He includes just about every photo of Wild Bill that’s ever been taken (one has to assume), as well as just about every location he ever visited, or every person he ever associated with (again, one has to assume based the bevy of pictures.

Through Rosa’s spectacular pictorial essay it is easy to get a more intimate understanding of J.M. Hickok. We get to see his family and their likenesses to each other, his different moods in different settings, and we get to see the transition of a young man hunting the world transition in to the slowly aging gunfighter who was slowly going blind.

This was Rosa’s second book on Wild Bill and if you find, after reading his first volume, They Called Him Wild Bill, still wanting to know more about the man, then this is the book to take you deeper. Of the three follow up volumes Rosa scripted, one will give you a better picture of his gunfights, one will give you a better understanding of how the myth was formed and where it came from, and this one will give you a better understanding of Will Bill himself, and just what the world around him was actually like.

The West of…was first published in 1982 and is just a hair over two-hundred pages with introduction and notes; meaning there is probably well over 400 images (if I had to guess). All-in-all, a great book, and a must for a western history collection.

Wild Bill Hickok – They Called Him Wild Bill

Your first stop on your way to learning about Wild Bill Hickok should definitely be They Called Him Wild Bill, by Joseph G. Rosa. There are many writings on Hickok previous to Rosa’s book, but the benefit is that he has synthesized everything into a comprehensive, and well documented chronological biography. Rosa’s knowledge is vast, and he is the expert on all things Wild Bill, in much the same way that DeArment is for Bat Masterson or Gary Roberts is for Doc Holliday.

The qualities in Rosa’s book is that he doesn’t make assumptions, nor does he require it of the reader. He gives plausible statements for what he determines to be the most likely truth, and still leaves room for things to change were new evidence to be presented. In fact, his introduction states as much, and cites it as the reason why a second edition follow-up to the first was necessitated.

There were a lot of stories told about Wild Bill; he was a western celebrity while he was still alive, and journalists loved to tell stories about him. Unfortunately this makes for a murky quagmire when wishing to process the truth out of the swamp of lies, but Rosa handles it deftly and thoroughly. When one hears an anecdote, and due to it’s un-believability, Rosa consistently makes a fair case for both ways the conventional thought could. Regarding the claim that Hickok was made a U.S. Deputy Marshal at Fort Riley in the beginning of 1866, Rosa shows that the work he was doing would certainly fall under that title, and also shows why it could be plausible that there may be no documentation of his engagement. And, at the same time, Rosa also shows how the title may have been an exaggeration of what he was actually doing, which was classed as detective work. Almost without fail, when he reaches a conclusion, he will state that it is his belief, and not dismiss what he doesn’t believe.

The book goes, with introduction, almost exactly 350 pages, however, Rosa has written four different books on Wild Bill, and this one serves as the first volume, for all practical purposes. Together with the other three, he has done rather similarly what Lee Silva has done with Wyatt Earp; the prime difference being  that Silva published one very large volume, where as Rosa did four different books. But what results in the end is complete dissecting of James Butler and all the pertinent elements of his life as a gunman. He has covered him in a standard, and very well done, biography, followed by books that break down his gunfights, examine the world he lived in, giving context to his world, and a book solely devoted to examining the stories that made Hickok a legend.

To really study Wild Bill Hickok, a person should read all four of Rosa’s books covering the man, and They Called Him Wild Bill is definitely the starting point. And if you want to know about him, but don’t need to go deeper into follow-up books then this one will set you straight.

Wild Bill (1996)

Wild Bill starring Jeff Bridges is both a movie you have to see, as well as a movie you probably ought to turn off about half way through. Bridges is fantastic as Wild Bill. Admitting that it’s impossible to know exactly what a man was like in real life who lived so long ago, for my dollar Bridges comes as close as anyone who’s ever been on screen. His confidence, his tone, demeanor, his stride and stance, all convey to me exactly the image I get when I read about the real man.

The movie gets off to a good start, depicting Wild Bill on the range, and briskly moves through many of his more acclaimed moments. The problem comes when the script suddenly goes sideways and becomes all about a lost love who has an avenger in the name of Jack McCall, who hunts down Hickok and, unable to finish off the man himself, hires a gang of gunslingers to harass and essentially kidnap Bill and his friends.

It is true that no one knows exactly who Jack McCall was or why he hated Wild Bill Hickok, and therefore a little bit of artistic license should be allowed when presenting some conjecture on this part of the story. Unfortunately, the route taken goes so far off course, taking the rest of the story with it, that it corrupts the whole timeline of Wild Bill, and by the end of the movie it’s sort of a psychedelic mess (yes, psychedelic).

Aside from the gunplay and the strangeness of the relationship theories, there is also some thoughtful time given to Wild Bill’s time as a performer, as well as to his deteriorating state in his latter years. The moments are relatively succinct, which is appropriate for a movie covering the entirety of a life rather than one aspect of it, but it brings enough to the audience to create sincere sympathy, and in a compact way, give a good snapshot of the man.

I think it best to watch the movie completely through the first time it’s viewed, but for me, whenever I choose to re-watch it, I press the clicker before it gets too weird. It’s too bad it’s such a schizophrenic creature, because it is easily the best depiction of Hickok and many of his gunfights that we have to date. Perhaps with some luck we’ll get a newer version that can improve on the positives of this one.